This section provides background information related to the present invention, which is not necessarily prior art.
Recently, small IT devices such as smartphones, tablet PCs and gamers are mounted with camera modules and vehicles are also mounted with camera modules for running record and parking conveniences.
Recently, camera modules mounted on vehicles perform various additional functions in addition to functions to display images. As a result, the camera modules are mounted with various devices along with an image sensor, and size of circuit board used for the camera module is gradually increased.
However, the size of camera module is restricted, and recently, in order to satisfy the limited size of camera module and required area of circuit board, a technology of stacking up a plurality of small-sized circuit boards inside the camera module has been developed.
The Korea patent publication No.: 10-2010-0048101, entitled as “vehicular camera module (published on May 11, 2010” discloses a technology in which a plurality of circuit boards is stacked up inside a camera module, and each circuit board is coupled to a housing by a fastening screw.
However, the vehicular camera module suffers from disadvantages in that the circuit boards are coupled to the housing by a fastening screws to increase the number of assembly processes, a manufacturing cost caused by screw fastening, and to decrease a parts mounting area of circuit board caused by screw fastening, whereby an increased number of circuit boards and bending phenomenon of circuit boards may be disadvantageously generated.
Meantime, a vehicle may be mounted with camera modules of various purposes. For example, when a vehicle is parked, a camera module capable of obtaining a rear visual range may be mounted on a rear side of the vehicle.
Furthermore, camera modules may be also used for vehicular black box that is very usefully employed in order to trace accident causes and accident circumstances when traffic accidents occur. Moreover, the trend is that the camera modules are gradually used as a recognition device in order to easily and clearly grasp a circumstance of a blind spot that cannot be visually ascertained by a driver or a passenger of a vehicle.
Recently, the trend is that manufacturing of smart cars, that is, vehicles mounted with a collision warning system detecting and inhibiting in advance a collision possibility at front and rear sides at the time of travel of vehicles, and a collision avoidance system by a control device capable of directly avoiding collision between vehicles that travel by the control device mounted on the vehicle, is on the increase.
Thus, use of camera modules as recognition means of external circumstances of smart cars is on the increase, and as a result, manufacturing and technical development of camera modules are also on the increasing trend.